Our rushing home didn’t produce our hoped results, but she was more pleasant than she had been. Brady actually left earlier than normal. He was exhausted, and I also think he was still trying to come to terms with leaving Kaysville. I knew he was putting on a brave face and that he meant what he said, but I was still worried he would end up regretting it, and in turn he would eventually resent me.
My aunt questioned my thoughtful state as we worked on our puzzle after Brady left. She, too, noticed he wasn’t his usual happy self. I told her about our day and what Brady had said and about my concerns.
She looked up from the puzzle. “Ella Lu, do you love Atlanta?”
I thought for a moment. “I wouldn’t say I love it. I like it and it’s convenient.”
“Ok, besides that, why do you live there?”
“Honestly, because it’s close to you.”
She gave me her look. “You know what’s closer to me? Kaysville.”
I leaned back against the couch and sighed. “Why would I want to live in a place where half the people despise me because of my last name?”
“I think you forget, young lady, that you’re planning on becoming a Jackson and that everybody you love lives in this town. And that boy loves this town and he loves his job. Not only that, he’s good at it. Ever since he was made Vice President, the bank has had its best years ever.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Well, you didn’t hear it from me,” she said gruffly.
I sat up and smiled at her.
“Ella Lu, I understand your misgivings about moving back here, but sugar, people are always going to talk. It doesn’t mean you have to listen.”
“What about his parents?”
“What about them? Don’t let them get in the way of your happiness. I did that for far too many years.”
My Aunt Lu’s words played over and over in my head all night. So much so, I called Kendra the next morning and asked her if she and Caroline had some time to spare, and if they did, would they come and stay with my aunt for a few hours? I finally knew what to get Brady for Christmas. Kendra willingly agreed, even though this was the Saturday before Christmas and the brothers were arriving today.
They arrived a couple of hours later, and everyone was curious about what I was up to, but I told them all I would explain later. Brady deserved to know first, but I had a feeling my aunt knew already by the look she gave me. I drove as fast as I could to Brady’s house without breaking any major laws. I couldn’t wait to see him.
As I pulled up to his home and took in the view and admired his handiwork, I knew I was making the right decision. I excitedly knocked on his door. He answered fairly quickly, but it looked like I had caught him shaving. He had a trace amount of shaving cream on his chin, and boy did he look fine.
“Darlin’, what are you doing here?”
I walked in and wiped the shaving cream off his face then kissed him fervently. He wrapped me up tight in response. It was one of those “I forget my last name” kisses.
“On second thought, I don’t care why you’re here, let’s just do this all day.”
I warmly smiled at him, still in his arms. “Sounds perfect, but first I need you to come somewhere with me.”
He looked at me curiously. “Alright, darlin’, let me finish getting ready.” He kissed my forehead before he walked toward his room.
I waited by the door; I was anxious to get going, but I looked around and again knew I was making the right decision. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but when is making the right choice ever easy?
It didn’t take him long to finish up; he joined me in a matter of a few minutes. I took his hand and led him out the door to my car. He tried to steer me to his truck, but I told him I was driving. He was still a gentleman and opened the driver side door for me
“Where are we going?” he asked as I pulled out.
I winked. “You’ll see.”
I could tell I definitely had his interest piqued, but he sat back and relaxed. “I’m all yours.”
“I like the sound of that.”
As we drove toward Birmingham and passed the sign directing us to the airport, he became visibly excited. “Please tell me we’re going to Vegas.”
I laughed and glanced his way. “This is better than Vegas.”
“Ok, Atlantic City,” he said hopefully.
“Brady, do you really want to get married in one of those places?
He touched my cheek. “I just want to get married, I don’t care where.”
“Well I do, and believe me, my aunt cares too. I want to get married in our church.”
He looked confounded. “What’s better than getting married today?”
“Ok, maybe it’s not better than getting married, but I promise, you’ll love it … Ok?”
“Ok.” He didn’t sound very sure.
Now I worried that I had just dashed his hopes. I especially worried when we pulled into the crowded Summit parking lot and his face registered disappointment.
“Darlin’, did you mean to come here? I thought you finished your Christmas shopping.”
“Well, I thought I had, but I neglected one person on my list and I need your help.”
He was really confused and disappointed now. I just let him be that way. I got out of the car, but he just sat there. I looked in. “Aren’t you coming?”
He looked at me like I had lost my mind, but he got out. I met him on the passenger side and grabbed his hand. “Come on.”
He reluctantly followed me. I didn’t say a word; I was kind of enjoying this. We made our way through the packed sidewalks of the shopping center. Shopping the Saturday before Christmas is usually not the best idea, but it was worth it. We finally made it to my designated store.
Brady was now looking a little disgruntled. “Ellie, Pottery Barn? Really, darlin’?”
“Yes, believe me, this is way better than Vegas.”
He just shook his head at me like I had really had lost it, but I forged ahead, walking in while dragging him with me.
We were greeted by a nice associate named Logan. “How can I help you today?” he asked politely.
“Could you please direct us to your bedroom furniture?” I asked.
I watched Brady’s reaction. He was no longer pouting; now there was a little spark of excitement.
Logan walked us toward the back of the store. “Please let me know if I can answer any questions for you.”
“Thank you, I think we’d like to look around first.”
“What’s this all about?” Brady asked as soon as Logan walked away.
“I finally figured out what to get you for Christmas.”
“Bedroom furniture?”
“Well, we have to have something other than a futon to sleep on.”
He looked at me with a tentative smile. “What are you saying, Ellie?”
I reached up and touched his cheek. “I’m saying I love you and I want us to live in Kaysville.”
He placed his hand on top of mine that rested on his cheek. “Are you sure, Ellie?”
“I’ve never been surer about anything,” I replied without reservation.
He pulled me to him and dipped me down and kissed me quite nicely, to the amusement of our fellow shoppers. “I love you, Ellie,” he said as he brought me back up slowly.
“Merry Christmas, Brady.”
It was amazing how enthusiastic Brady was about shopping now. The only thing he was disgruntled about was I insisted on paying for the bedroom furniture. It was his Christmas present after all. We decided on a beautiful farmhouse-style canopy bed, king size. We quite enjoyed choosing a mattress. We also got matching dressers and night stands. To top it off, we purchased some beautiful white ruched bedding. He wanted crimson, but I nixed that. We also picked out a kitchen table and chairs that he paid for. At least we would no longer have to eat on a card table.
I’m not sure if I had ever seen Brady happier than when we walked out of that store. I h
ad no doubt he would have made the sacrifice and moved to Atlanta, but my Aunt Lu was right. All we truly loved was in Kaysville, and making Brady happy made me happier than I could imagine.
I let him drive us home. Happiness shown in his eyes as we drove back to my aunt’s house. We called Benjamin and asked him to meet us there. We wanted to tell them together that we were staying. They were all ecstatic, but Benjamin looked visibly relieved. I guess I hadn’t really thought about what it would have meant to Benjamin to have to replace Brady. I was just beginning to see how close those two were. But, I was most interested in my aunt’s reaction. She gave me her “I’m so proud of you” look.
If only she would call Brady by his God-given name. I swear she was trying harder now not to say his name, like she had to stop herself from saying it. I wondered what was holding her back. She obviously seemed happy I was staying, and she knew why. Not that she wasn’t worth staying, but only Brady made it possible for me to live here.
Brady was practically desperate for her to say his name. As I lay in his arms that night after she had gone to bed, he racked his brain on how to trick her into saying it, even though I told him that kind of defeated the purpose. I teased him that we had time—the bedroom furniture wouldn’t be delivered until sometime in January. That didn’t matter to Brady, he was determined to be married as soon as possible, bed or no bed. I also mentioned he was forgetting little details like he hadn’t really proposed and I didn’t have a dress or any of the other elements my aunt would consider essential for a proper wedding for her only child. He waived them all off as minor details.
“Ellie, the only real question is where you want to honeymoon.”
I shook my head at him. “Spoken like a true man.”
“I’m serious. You’ve traveled all over, where do you want to go?”
I thought about it for a moment. “Somewhere warm and secluded sounds nice.”
He stroked my hair. “I can work with that.”
“I look forward to seeing where you pick.” I yawned loudly. I hadn’t slept well at all the night before; I was making major life decisions.
“Sounds like I better go.”
“I suppose. Are you picking me up for church?”
He hesitated, so I sat up and looked at him. “No?”
He stroked my cheek lightly. “I know I’ve asked so much of you lately, but can you do one more thing for me tomorrow?”
“Moving isn’t enough for you?” I teased.
He leaned in and kissed my forehead and stayed there. “Ellie, will you sit on the left side tomorrow with my family?”
“Brady?”
“I know, I’m asking more than I should, but this request is coming from my daddy. He asked that we both sit with my family.”
I still didn’t answer. It was a lot to process.
“Please, Ellie, he’s not doing well. I think it would mean a lot to him.” He paused. “It would mean a lot to me.”
I released a huge breath. “Brady Jackson, I must love you.”
He didn’t say anything, he just proceeded to give me a long, sweet, slow kiss goodbye. The kind of kiss that said exactly how he felt about me. I was indeed a lucky girl.
I went to bed that night wide awake. I had been so tired, and I still was, but my mind was in overdrive. Remember what I said about right choices not being easy choices? I knew what my moving back to Kaysville would mean, but I didn’t think it would be so in-my-face this quickly. I was planning on completely ignoring the fact Brady had additional family in town for the holidays. I had no plans whatsoever of throwing myself in the middle of them, especially on their side of the church. I really needed to talk to the pastor about putting some pews in the middle. They would be like Switzerland, and those that supported the Eaton-Jackson union would sit there.
I also kept wondering why Mr. Jackson wanted me to sit there as well. I knew Kendra had said he refused to tell Brady to leave me or not to move. Maybe he was having a change of heart. Or maybe it was a trap and they really did have poisoned apples. Either way, I didn’t sleep well again, but I rose early to get ready for church. My Aunt Lu still couldn’t go. She was supposed to avoid public places for a couple of weeks while she was recuperating, especially during the cold and flu season. Doris was a dear and a non-churchgoer, so she was coming to aunt-sit. I knew my aunt was getting tired of being monitored, but I wasn’t budging on it.
Thankfully my aunt was sleeping a little more these days, so I didn’t see her before I left with Brady. I knew she was going to find out where I sat at church today, but I didn’t want to tell her yet or why. I worried about how she would react if she knew Isaac had extended the invite. I still couldn’t believe he had.
The drive to church was a pretty quiet affair. Brady held my hand and squeezed it frequently. That was pretty much our only form of communication until we got to the church. It was probably a good thing, too, because I felt like I was going to lose my breakfast that Doris had so lovingly prepared.
As soon as he turned off his truck, I took a deep breath. This was so wrong. No one should feel this way when they’re going to church.
“Remind me of the names of your nieces and nephews and who belongs to who,” I said.
“Bailey and Brinley are Beau’s twin eighteen-year-old daughters, and his son is named after him and is sixteen …” Apparently this family loved B names. “… Booker also has a sixteen-year-old son named Joshua and a thirteen-year-old girl named Carden.”
“Ok. I think I got it.”
He rubbed my shoulders. “Ellie, it’s going to be ok.”
“Don’t you dare leave my side for one minute, not even a second.”
He grinned. “Darlin’, I don’t ever plan on leaving your side.”
“Do I look ok?” I nervously asked.
He looked me over carefully. I was wearing a charcoal gray fitted long sleeve dress with a tanned colored mid length jacket, matching scarf and high heeled boots.
He kissed my cheek. “I can barely contain myself.”
I playfully smacked him.
He laughed. “You’re gorgeous as always.”
“Thank you.”
“So are you ready?”
“No, but let’s go.”
He looked at me sweetly, with a knowing look, and he helped me out. We weren’t as much of an attraction as we had been the week before. Hopefully that meant the novelty was wearing off and we would become old news soon. Brady kept his arm around me as we walked into the chapel. We were the last of his family to arrive. Caroline immediately ran to us and threw her arms around me as soon as we walked in the double doors.
I looked down into that sweet face. “Good morning, sugar.”
“Miss Ellie, my cousins are here.”
I looked up, and everyone was staring at me, or maybe glaring. Except Benjamin and Kendra, they were giving me, “I’m so sorry” looks.
Brady picked Caroline up before I could respond. “Where’s my hug, darlin’?” Brady asked her.
She squeezed his neck tight. He put her back down and took my hand. I took Caroline’s hand as well and we walked over. By now, the whole congregation was interested in what we were doing. All of a sudden I felt very warm. I felt the pressure of Brady’s hand trying to be reassuring, but it wasn’t working. It looked like Beau’s family was sitting in front of his parents and Benjamin and Booker’s family were sharing a pew behind. A feeling of dread came over me. It looked like we would be sitting by his parents and sandwiched in between hostiles.
I had to keep looking at Brady and reminding myself who I was doing this for. The scrutinizing glances were quite apparent and unnerving, especially from the beauty queen wives, Rachelle and Sherrie. Then there was his momma; she looked like she was planning to serve me for lunch later. She sat on the end, and Brady’s daddy sat next to her, but not close.
“Good morning, y’all.” Brady said as we made it to the inner circle of hell. Everyone kind of murmured a response, except his momma. She was
stone cold.
Caroline pulled on my arm. “Can I sit with you, Miss Ellie?”
“Of course, sugar, as long as it’s ok with your parents.” I looked at Kendra and she gave the go ahead and a supportive smile. I smiled back, even though I kind of felt like crying or running.
Brady led me further into the fiery furnace. I think if his momma could have tripped me, she would have. His daddy at least gave us a small smile as we walked past. Caroline hugged her granddad as we walked by and then sat next to him. He seemed to really enjoy her. I ended up near Caroline, and Brady was at the end. I had wanted the end, but it seemed too obvious to switch places with Brady. As soon as we sat down, Brady properly introduced me. They showed manners and at least acknowledged my presence. The twin girls surprised me and complimented my boots and asked where I bought them. It was a small victory.
Thankfully, the service was about to start, so everyone faced forward but me. I looked next to me. I was watching Isaac with Caroline. He handed her a tootsie roll from his pocket and she kissed his cheek. He looked at me, and I smiled. I don’t know why I kept doing that around him. I think it was his eyes. I could see Brady in them. He handed me a tootsie roll too.
I was so taken aback I just sat there with it in my hand and looked at it, I even forgot to say thank you. Brady brought me out of my stupor by sweetly kissing my temple. I looked over at him. He looked at me like I was his whole world.
We were interrupted by Benjamin, who sat forward and whispered between us, “Ok lovebirds, you can save your sappy looks for after church.”
We both smiled and looked forward. I tried to enjoy the sermon, but it was hard. The covert glances from in front of us and the icy stares of his momma had me distracted. But oddly, it was the stares of his daddy that I found the most interesting. He looked my way often, but he wasn’t being unkind. On the contrary, they were gentle, sweet looks.
By the end of the service, I was quite glad it was over. I had never wanted to go to Sunday School so much in my life, but unfortunately no one in Brady’s family seemed keen to move right away. I just looked at Brady for direction. Thankfully, he took the hint and stood up, and I followed suit. Benjamin and Kendra did the same. At least they had a good excuse to leave, they had to take Caroline to the children’s Sunday School class. She kissed both her grandparents goodbye and waved to everyone else. She was precious.
House Divided Page 22